The Phantom of the Opera // Book Review

The Phantom of the Opera
Gaston Leroux

A mysterious Phantom haunts the depths of the Paris Opera house where he has fallen passionately in love with the beautiful singer Christine Daae. Under his guidance her singing rises to new heights and she is triumphantly acclaimed. But Christine is also loved by Raoul de Chagny, and by returning his love she makes the fiend she knows as the Angel of Music mad wit jealously. When the Phantom is finally unmasked, will Christine see beyond his hideous disfigurement?

The Phantom of the Opera had been on my TBR list forever, but I was more than a little nervous about it, so I kept ignoring it. But my older brother bought me a copy a couple months ago and informed me that I had to read it immediately because it was his favoritest play ever and was oh-so-good. I am very glad that I took the time to read it. I was nervous mostly because I have a tendency to fall in love with the bad guys in films or books, out of pity. (Think Mr. Preston in Wives and Daughters... I kind of really love him, to the horror of my Aunt. :) And I didn't really want to fall in love with a sociopathic, homicidal genius who is absolutely obsessed with a beautiful girl to the point of kidnapping her and attempting to murder her "fiance." That just didn't sound wonderful to me. Much to my relief and surprise, I didn't fall for Eric in Phantom of the Opera. I felt a tremendous amount of pity, and interest for him, but nothing resembling affection. :) 

 Leroux did a wonderful job with this book! Its written beautifully, and the story was intriguing! Set from the perspective of someone totally unrelated to the plot line, Leroux crafted a brilliant "mystery" set around the French Opera, and a beautiful, unexpectedly talented girl, and a Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera, demanding money and appearing in various forms, kidnapping Christine occasionally and killing those who oppose him. (Gosh, describing him is hard! Basically he's insane!)  I loved Christine. She was sweet, innocent and trusting, yet smart and she was willling to take a stand for right and justice. I didn't like Raoul quite as much as I thought I would. He was pretty spineless, but in all honesty, so much of an improvement from Eric that I was happy with him. 

I recommend adding this to your reading list. It was fascinating, brilliant and sad. :)

My rating: **** {four of five}